An airport moving map (AMM) is a map of an airport that can be displayed for a pilot of an ownship (or simply, a “pilot”), An AMM may include a variety of objects, such as obstacles, taxiways, hold bars, and the like. In addition, an AMM may include (i.e., overlay the AMM with) an ownship icon that represents the ownship on the AMM.
Conventional AMMs may include a “zoom in” or “range in” and a “zoom out” or “range out” function. This function may permit a pilot of the ownship to zoom in or zoom out on the AMM as desired. In other words, a zoom in/zoom out function permits a pilot to adjust a scale factor, or range, displayed by the AMM. Thus, a pilot may select, for example, a range in terms of nautical miles. The ownship icon may or may not scale with the AMM.
Accordingly, in many instances, although the pilot may adjust the degree of zoom or range displayed by the AMM, the dimensions of the ownship icon on the AMM may remain constant. In other words, the dimensions of the ownship icon may not change as the range changes. Thus, as a pilot zooms in or out within the AMM, the pilot may not be able to accurately determine where the aircraft is actually located. For instance, as the pilot zooms out on the AMM, the ownship icon may enlarge correspondingly so that the pilot does not lose track of the icon. As the icon enlarges, however, it can become increasingly difficult to determine where precisely the ownship is located on the AMM, since the icon is not to scale with objects, such as runways, on the AMM. Hence, to avoid pilot confusion based upon the degree of zoom within the AMM, there is a need for systems and methods that improve pilot positional (and therefore situational) awareness within an AMM as well as within an actual airport.